What is Blender?

Blender is a free and open source 3D computer graphics suite built with the combined efforts of artists, scientists, students, visual effects experts, animators, game artists, artists, and other professionals around the world. Feature-rich and intuitive, the software is used for creating animated films, visual effects, arts, 3D printed models, 3D applications, and video games.

Blender has a built-in path-tracer engine that allows users to achieve ultra-realistic rendering. It is equipped with comprehensive modeling tools; enabling them to create, edit, and transform their models quickly. Also, with its camera and object tracking features, they will be able to import raw footage, track the footage, and view camera movements in 3D scenes.

Additionally, Blender offers rigging and animation tools which are ideal for creating short films, advertisements, and TV series. Users can also combine 2D with 3D in the viewport. Last but not the least, the 3D creation suite provides a Python API that is helpful in customizing the layout, colors, fonts, and size of its interface.

Overview of Blender Benefits

Path-Tracer Engine For Realistic Rendering

Among the interesting features in Blender is its ray-trace based production render engine called Cycles. Basically, a render engine is a set of codes that controls the usage of materials and lighting, and the appearance of the rendered image in 3D scenes. Cycles is a path-tracer render engine that provides users with the ability to add more realistic lighting to their scenes by tracing the path of light as pixels in an image and simulating the effects of its interaction with objects.

Speed Up Rendering Processes

Cycles provides the capability to perform rendering using a graphics card rather than the CPU, a feature known as GPU rendering. As a result, it speeds up the rendering process allowing modern GPUs to perform plenty of number crunching. Number crunching is the process of performing 3D calculations which are required especially for developing video games and 3D-heavy applications.

Create 3D Games

Speaking of video game development, Blender offers a game engine which allows users to create 3D games. This includes the ability to code their own game logic and port models to third-party game engines. They can create interactive visualizations and prototypes for their games.

Film Animation

Blender also has animation tools and features that are very useful for creating short and feature-length films. It has a character pose animator editor, as well as features for independent movements and inverse kinematics. Users will be able to do automatic skinning as they create posable characters, and work on bone layers and colored groups through the aid of its fast rigging tools.

Visual Effects Features

Meanwhile, the VFX features of the software include a built-in compositor that enables users to access a library of nodes as they create camera effects, vignettes, and color grading. They will also be able to render to multilayer OpenEXR files. OpenEXR is a high dynamic-range (HDR) image file format used in movies such as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Men In Black II, and Signs.

Scripting

As part of its scripting capabilities, Blender offers extensions users can activate to obtain more functionalities. An option for them will also be to add such functionalities via Python scripts (an object-oriented programming language) These functionalities include animation, rendering, import and export, and object creation.

If you are interested in Blender it may also be sensible to analyze other subcategories of Best Graphic Design Software gathered in our database of B2B software reviews.

It is essential to note that almost no service in the Graphic Design Software category will be a perfect solution that can match all the requirements of various business types, sizes and industries. It may be a good idea to read a few Blender reviews first as certain software can dominate just in a really small group of applications or be created with a really specific industry in mind. Others might operate with an idea of being simple and intuitive and therefore lack complex functions welcomed by more experienced users. You can also come across apps that support a wide group of customers and give you a complex feature set, however this usually comes at a higher price of such a solution. Make sure you're aware of your requirements so that you get a software that offers exactly the functionalities you search for.

How Much Does Blender Cost?

Blender Pricing Plans:

Free trial

Blender

Free

Blender Cloud Renewal Type – Manual

$17/mo.

Blender Cloud Renewal Type – Automatic

$11.50/mo.

Blender is a freeware. You can use the software for commercial or educational purposes, and distribute it free of charge. However, its software provider Blender Foundation, a non-profit corporation, offers enterprise pricing services and subscriptions for artists and small teams who want to access its open production platform such as Blender Cloud. In addition, subscriptions for Blender Cloud can be renewed manually or automatically on a monthly, quarterly, or yearly basis. Here are the details:

Blender Cloud

Renewal Type – Manual

$17/mo. – This subscription stops after 1 month. You can leave it on-hold, or renew it manually.

$37 every 3 months – At the end of three months the subscription stops. You can manually renew it any time.

$127/yr. – At the end of a year the subscription stops. You can manually renew it any time.

User Satisfaction

We realize that when you make a decision to buy Video Editing Software it’s important not only to see how experts evaluate it in their reviews, but also to find out if the real people and companies that buy it are actually satisfied with the product. That’s why we’ve created our behavior-based Customer Satisfaction Algorithm™ that gathers customer reviews, comments and Blender reviews across a wide range of social media sites. The data is then presented in an easy to digest form showing how many people had positive and negative experience with Blender. With that information at hand you should be equipped to make an informed buying decision that you won’t regret.

Blender User Reviews

What are Blender pricing details?

Blender Pricing Plans:

Free trial

Blender

Free

Blender Cloud Renewal Type – Manual

$17/mo.

Blender Cloud Renewal Type – Automatic

$11.50/mo.

Blender is a freeware. You can use the software for commercial or educational purposes, and distribute it free of charge. However, its software provider Blender Foundation, a non-profit corporation, offers enterprise pricing services and subscriptions for artists and small teams who want to access its open production platform such as Blender Cloud. In addition, subscriptions for Blender Cloud can be renewed manually or automatically on a monthly, quarterly, or yearly basis. Here are the details:

Blender Cloud

Renewal Type – Manual

$17/mo. – This subscription stops after 1 month. You can leave it on-hold, or renew it manually.

$37 every 3 months – At the end of three months the subscription stops. You can manually renew it any time.

$127/yr. – At the end of a year the subscription stops. You can manually renew it any time.

Ask Blender A Question

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